


In the middle of the dark, a flower blooms.

by Yuulittledemon



Series: Ensemble Stars : Drabble Collection [2]
Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Asexual Character, Asexual Sakasaki Natsume, Domestic Fluff, Epic Friendship, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Mentioned Itsuki Shuu, Mentioned Mademoiselle, Mentioned Narukami Arashi - Freeform, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Other, Platonic Relationships, Shop Owner Switch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 05:20:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30100896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuulittledemon/pseuds/Yuulittledemon
Summary: “Your dumb Senpai was supposed To Salvage important Potions for My experiment.” Natsume picks his nails ahead of continuing, “It’s been an Hour already. I told Him how Important this was. I need To finish this Before dawn or I will Be compelled to Restart Everything.”The plan was for him to go look for it while Natsume stays home and gain time. Tsumugi was so insistent on helping as well despite being tired.‘If I can help Natsume-kun finish his important spell then I will! Don’t worry about me, it is my fault, I didn’t take a nap like you suggested.’Natsume rolls his eyes.While he ended up accepting his help, it doesn’t mean he wishes for the idiot to hurt himself in his name. Even if the spell needs months of preparations in advance.A fantasy Switch AU where they have a shop together in witch Natsume is able to experiment with magic and teach Sora & Tsumugi away from what he calls 'the evil world'.
Relationships: Aoba Tsumugi & Harukawa Sora, Aoba Tsumugi & Harukawa Sora & Sakasaki Natsume, Aoba Tsumugi & Sakasaki Natsume, Aoba Tsumugi/Sakasaki Natsume, Harukawa Sora & Sakasaki Natsume
Series: Ensemble Stars : Drabble Collection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814965
Kudos: 12





	In the middle of the dark, a flower blooms.

Like a wave hitting a shore, Natsume’s hand collides against the dark wooded counter before him.

 _Where is he?_

The sharp echo of his black buckled platforms signals his arrival from the main shop before he can be seen. The sudden appearance of his apprentice hiding the path to his office would have made him flinch if he wasn’t used to it.

“Shisho!”, his younger friend who could easily be mistaken for a ray of sunshine exclaims, “Sora just finished delivering the last packaged like Shisho asked!” Unable to contain his excitement, the blond wiggles left and right, “Is Sora done for now? Can he join Shisho’s experiment?”

Forming a loop with his left hand, a paper full of shapes and notes appears inside his palm. “Shisho Is busy For now, Sora,” the latter accepts the sheet Natsume hands him with raised eyebrows, “Here. This is a List of spells You can work On.”

He slithers past his friend inside his office with a frown, his expression softening when the blond hums, “Is Shisho alright? Sora smells a pretty scary colour.”

Natsume sighs. This shouldn’t get to him. Rolling up his shoulders, he takes a deep breath and faces the other boy behind him. “The universe Always reminds Me of How Incapable I am at Hiding anything From you.” The little giggle and blinding smile he gets from ruffling Sora’s hair tones his anxiety down. 

“Your dumb Senpai was supposed To Salvage important Potions for My experiment.” He picks his nails ahead of continuing, “It’s been an Hour already. I told Him how Important this was. I need To finish this Before dawn or I will Be compelled to Restart Everything.”

The plan was for him to go look for it while Natsume stays home and gain time. Tsumugi was so insistent on helping as well, despite being tired.

‘ _If I can help Natsume-kun finish his important spell then I will! Don’t worry about me, it is my fault, I didn’t take a nap like you suggested_.’ Natsume rolls his eyes.

While he ended up accepting his help, it doesn’t mean he wishes for the idiot to hurt himself in his name. Even if the spell needs months of preparations in advance and Natsume will use dark magic if all the energy he put into will go to vain, whether he admits it or not, Tsumugi’s health is much more important than that.

Natsume’s fingers fold together as he sighs once more. Sora is behind him still, watching him mumble incomprehensible words to himself. From anyone else’s perspective, it would look as if he were cursing someone. However, his apprentice knows better.

If he asks Sora what colour he sees coming from him right now, he would respond Green, the colour of _pride_. (And maybe a bright magenta, for every negative emotion bottling up inside of him)

Despite being void of any visual cues similar to his younger one, Natsume is able to discern the concern in Sora’s eyes.

“Rest easy,” he stars, finally leaving his hands alone, picking up his cane from besides his desk instead, “While senpai is Known For being Clumsy and Devoid Of sense of time,” his half joke earns a smile from Sora, “He will Come back In time.” _He promised._

As if scripted, a glint of stars is heard from the shop’s main entrance. The two friends look at each other with raised eyebrows. “Senpai?” Sora storms out of the office with a gasp, the paper he once held almost hitting the floor in the process if it wasn’t for Natsume’s hand catching it. 

“Sora, be Careful!”

“Senpai!” He hears once more, accompanied by a huff of surprise. Natsume leaves his cane at the corner of his desk.

“Sora-kun, I wasn’t gone for so long, what did I deserve to get such a warming welcome?” The fondness in Tsumugi’s voice cues the younger’s laugh. “Sora just missed senpai a lot! Is all!”

Letting go of Sora’s arms, Tsumugi accepts his friend’s help getting his coat off. “Hihi, Senpai’s bag looks really full, does he need Sora to get stuff from it?”

Sora is already opening the bag as Tsumugi answers, “I would appreciate it yes, however be careful, there are a lot of fragile and important things in here, ok?”

A gasp slips from Sora’s mouth, colours blooming around his vision, “Is this…?”

“Did You accept Helping me To Hinder my Efforts?” Natsume calls, voice echoing behind him in the open corridor. Tsumugi has the decency of looking guilty while Sora giggles from behind the counter. His blond hair barely goes over it.

The scene is adorable it almost distracts Natsume. It successfully does when he notices Sora’s struggling hands close with self-cheering the bag so full to the point of tearing apart.

“Natsume-kun,” Tsumugi’s stance on the other side of the counter flinches when he directs a scowl at him, “You’re not working on your spell?”

“What were You expecting? You Were gone for An hour. Sora came Back Before you did When He was Supposed to be back after Dawn.” He spares bringing back this morning’s conversation about leaving Sora alone at night.

Even if he is growing up and a year and a half from being eighteen – thinking about it reminds him how old Tsumugi and him are becoming. Not ‘old’ but soon far away from their teens- letting his younger apprentice outside is a hard topic for him. He is working on it however.

Despite what life has taught him, the outside world isn’t here to destroy them. He isn’t the only one teaching things in this shop, Tsumugi and Sora have been showing him step by step what the world has to offer. He will forever be thankful to them.

“Natsume-kun?”

“Well I don’t Care, you Came Back just In time, Didn’t you?” Natsume turns is back to Tsumugi’s glowing eyes, “It will Only make Things worse If we Continue talking about It. Come, bring the bag to my office."

“Actually, Natsume-kun,” Sora’s bedroom door closes with a creek, “could you help me with the bag? I used all my energy into decreasing its weight but it wore off not long ago.” 

Their eyes meet and Natsume shakes his head, “Learn how to Manage your energy, will you? How Long have I been Teaching you, have you Been Really Listening?” Tsumugi chuckles, “Sora-kun is probably a better student that I ever will be.”

Natsume joins the tip of his fingers into a triangle shape and closes his eyes, mumbling a few words. The bag starts floating above the counter. “He is and You should be Ashamed.” He puts emphasis on his sentence with a glare, “How old are You, almost twenty-Five Now. And a teenage Boy is better At listening Than you Are.”

“I get distracted a lot when you’re the one teaching, for some reason.” Natsume pretends his ace-ness prohibits him from understanding the implications behind his partner’s words and mirror to his soul.

“Shut up and Come With me. You’re particularly troublesome Today.” Tsumugi’s laugh fades away as he enters the corridor towards his office.

Natsume takes his cane off the floor on his way to the back library, tapping it twice for any dust to be gone. He proceeds to look up and find the entrance to his secret office open. The usual innocent library is nowhere to be seen, only a corridor decorated with flaming chandelier.

He clinks his tongue. _I forgot to close the hidden door._

“Sorry, what was that?” 

An embarrassing shout leaves Natsume’s mouth when warm hands enter in contact with his shoulders. Curse this idiot and his silent shoes, “Nothing, I was mumbling nonsense.” Tsumugi only nods with a reassuring smile, hands retreating back to his side.

“You Never told Me What took you So long.” Natsume picks back up the conversation, closing the secret passage to his secondary office in the meantime.

He wouldn’t want Sora getting in and looking around instead of working on his lessons again. Speaking of, where is his apprentice?

“I went to all the boutiques you needed me to go to, of course, nowhere else.” Tsumugi rushes to answer, ”As for Sora, didn’t he go back to his room?” He looks up at him from searching around the bag for validation. “He said he needed to finish a paper you gave him.”

Natsume only responds with a scoff. That little gremlin took advantage of Tsumugi’s absence to lie and play video games instead of studying again. A smile can’t help but grow on his face.

“Oh, Shu-kun and Mademoiselle say hi by the way! They were there at Narukami-chan’s Amaryllis. She also says hi of course. Mademoiselle asked how we were doing and gave me a new hat she made for Sora-kun. Shu-kun was trying to stop her, it was very heartwarming. I rarely get to see Mademoiselle, so I was happy to see her today at the florist…and…” Tsumugi’s voice dies down towards the end, as if caught doing something wrong.

“Well, Go ahead,” Natsume complains, grabbing a few books from the bookcase in need for the last part of his experiment, “What happened Next? Shu-nii-san had Anything to say To Me?” _Of course he does_ , a voice at the back of his mind selfishly adds.

“Well, I…You’re not…?”

“I’m not What?” He’s getting annoying now, what’s up with this guy? He started rambling, which Natsume allowed him to by the way despite being fed up from the stress of the experiment, and now he can’t talk? It must be from fatigue. He’s going to knock life back into him if he continues-

“…What?”

“Congratulations on completing your new spell, Natsume-kun.” In Tsumugi’s hands is an arrangement of colourful flowers ( _is this a glimpse at Sora’s world_?).

From pink roses representing trust and happiness to camellias holding the meaning of admiration and perfection, each and every flower has been selected with a deep meaning in mind. Unsurprising coming from someone like Tsumugi, who loves studying the language of flowers and nature.

Words are caught up in Natsume’s throat. It’s always him who leaves him speechless. Even if he complains about it, he has come to love that about him. It makes their relationship special.

“I’m the worst, aren’t I? I wasn’t even able to hold the secret before you could finish the spell. I hope you don’t mind getting them before you’re done.” Tsumugi brings his free hand behind his neck.

“Even if you said you needed the month off, and didn’t want to celebrate, I couldn’t help myself but at least offer you those flowers for this special day.” At his lack of words, the blue haired fiddles around, playing with the edge of his glasses, “That said if you don’t like them it’s ok I can always bring them back-”

“You morron,” Natsume takes his partner into a warm embrace. The flowers safely floating behind him.

“Stop talking, you’re Going To ruin the Moment.”

Tsumugi’s smile on his collarbone makes him sigh. Natsume finds himself holding him closer, feeling like they are two pieces of a soul reuniting after so long. Tsumugi’s hand in his hair feels so needed, the stress leaves his body as they take a moment to enjoy each other’s company.

_I love you_ , Natsume telepathically whispers to his other half. _Thank you_.

They part enough for their eyes to meet. _I love you too_. Tsumugi’s lips forms into a smile, Natsume closes his eyes.

If anyone were to pay close attention, a soft humming could be heard from the main shop. A young-looking teen with golden hair is sitting upside down on a chair, gaming device in hand and candy flying besides them.

Despite the device displaying colorful imagery, the teen’s attention is on something else coming from the back of the shop. “Huhu, Senpai gave Shisho his present already~” They continue to hum as they get off the chair, the candy transforming into a sheet of paper.

“It’s Sora’s turn to give Shisho something then!” The humming transforms into fleeting mumbling as they bring their hands together, only glancing once at the paper steadily floating by their side. Then, with a well-practiced movement, they release their hands in a big rectangle shape.

“Hoho, Shisho’s dear senpais, welcome to Switch’s Emerald Planet! Let’s get to work, shall we~?”

**Author's Note:**

> [ I'm actually proud of this one. Started it somewhere in August of last year. I haven't been able to finish any fic (besides one but it was in april of last year + a fic to cope/vent w/ my disease that I transformed into a Dorm AU fic lmao) and today, 08/03/21 is the first fic I've finished for so long. I'm so happy, Switch brings me so much happiness. It's pretty obvious isn't it, by the way I write them haha.]
> 
> [17/03/21] 
> 
> Hello everyone! It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm not used to posting fics anymore, so I'm a little nervous. I decided to post this Switch fic to celebrate the current Switch event~! As I write, I am waiting for my BP to fill, since I am farming for at least 1 copy of Sora. To all my SwitchP/SoraP out there, fighting! I'm so exhausted, but I have to do it for Sora ^^ (Especially since I legit predicted his card?? I was jokingly asking for one where Switch is together holding hands or something and bam! We got that. I'm so happy)  
> It's also my first time farming for a Song event (forgot the name) and when I saw Sora was 3.5M pts... Let's just say I said goodbye to my recovering sleeping schedule. I dreamt of Switch tonight but it was a nightmare, I can thank the farming for that haha! (Also the new song ♥ I'm in love, it feels so familiar for a reason? Also we got blessed by Natsumugi... I'm crying.)
> 
> Anyways, this is a AU I created just cuz Switch and magic goes hand in hand. And also I can't stop writing Switch. I had to force myself out of writing them, but in the end I always mention them at least once. Please look forward to some Knights fics coming soon! (And the 3rd part of the Dorm AU I keep on teasing. I just don't know when to post it haha! Was gonna post it for Mao's BD but since I finished this one and figured I'll post it while the Switch event is going on...)
> 
> Also for those who are too tired to do the maths, here is Switch's ages!  
> Sora : 16 ½ yo  
> Natsume: 22  
> Tsumugi: 24
> 
> Bye bye everyone, see you soon. Take care! Thanks for reading my rambling and hope you enjoyed the Switch food♥


End file.
